2025-04-05 18:47:34Haruto stuck to Genzi’s back like a bug. He couldn't afford to lose the blonde no matter how much resentment he held towards him right now.
‘Damnation’ He could see smoke intrude the air until it looked like a fog in places the blonde passed. People took powdery stuff into their noses. What's more? they smoked strange objects into their lungs in insane quantities. ‘Aren’t they literally frying their lungs?!’ Back on homeworld, only the King and his advisors were allowed the privilege of smoking, even so in very small quantities and special types of whatever they smoked that would cause little to no harm. Haruto sighed and looked forward to follow… Haruto’s face twitched. ‘Goddamnit!! He's gone!’ His heart beat quickened almost instantly. If among the normal — at least that was the most normal here in the dregs — crowd, he could be grabbed by some lunatic. What's to say what would happen to him if he lingered here?. ‘Damn it! Damn it!’ He looked around impatiently, he couldn't find any trace of the blonde. He seemed to have disappeared into the smoke!!. ‘Curses! Wasn't it just now?’ He looked around. Instantly, his heart skipped a beat. He thought he saw a figure, it was advancing towards him. ‘What the hell?!’ However, almost immediately, an impatient voice rang through the thick fog of smoke. “Aren't you going to walk fast already?! I've got better things to do more than you think” The blonde!. Haruto quickly traced the voice and followed hastily, his nerves calming down a little. *** After a while, Genzi finally led Haruto to a door which he suspected to be the back exit of the casino. On exit, what met the both of them was a silent road littered with a few lamps that illuminated it slightly. Just across the road, there were a few buildings. Large and small. Genzi let out a sigh. “There you have it,” “Congratulations on exiting the dregs” ‘Huh? We're out of it?’ Genzi paused for a moment before he pointed accross the road. Haruto traced the blonde’s finger, his eyes landed on a rather inconspicuous building. It looked really old and out of places here we're there was not a single storey building but magnificent bungalows. The building the blonde was pointing to was the only storey building here. It was just one though. “That's the Tokyo Secret Combat Force” Genzi quickly turned around, his work was done as it seemed. He hesitated a little. “My regards to the Captain” With a dry smile, he disappeared into the casino as if he was never there. ‘The captain? Did he mean Mr Kentaro?’ Haruto quickly broke his line of thoughts, right now, there was no time for that. Haruto was now left alone on the lonely road. ‘Crap! What's with the looming darkness?!’ He could already see the darkness — more like shadows — in places where the street lamps could not reach, form strange shapes. He quickly started to walk towards the building, the longer he waited, the more fear gripped him. He wasn't afraid of the dark. Rather, he was afraid of what might be in the dark. The feeling of being watched alone was enough to fuel his fear. Combined with what the red head man had said before he left that day… In a flash, he had already crossed the road and was approaching the only visible door etched into the building. All other openings were windows hanging higher above the walls of the building. Haruto could count about 6 in a row just by glancing at it. He hastily reached out for the wooden door. It was small, not small enough not to contain him and leave a little centimeters above his head. His soft knock resounded. It managed to overshadow the sound of his fast-beating heart. While waiting for an answer, he impatiently stole impatient glances behind him at close intervals. He was weary, really weary. ‘Something is not right, something is wrong somewhere!!!’ ‘Curses’ Seeing his knock had not been attended to even after an eternity— so Haruto thought—, he knocked again. This time, with more vigour and impatience. After a few silent seconds and curses, he heard footsteps. ‘Oh thank gods!’ Haruto cried in his heart. But, his celebration was short lived, he felt something just now. He hastily gasped and turned back. Something was coming. It was headed directly for him. Haruto's eyes widened instantly, his heart, sinking into his stomach. ‘Open the damn door!!!’ Each passing second felt like an eternity, he could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer and faster. But whatever was coming for him was also rapidly approaching. Haruto felt goosebumps form all over his skin. His skin crawled and his spine stiffened. He could feel it. It was so…so…close. His heart beat paced up, beating at an insane speed. Then suddenly… ‘Damnation!!!!’ The door opened and the feeling disappeared without a trace. Haruto gasped for air desperately. His knees had lost strength and he was struggling to stand. He reeked of sweat—not that he was already reeking of course —. Momentarily at loss for words, the young lady that opened the door stared at him strangely before he finally heard her voice: “Who are you?” The moment he heard it, he was dumbstruck. He couldn't have made a mistake right? The voice he heard just now, wasn't it the sweet voice of a child? He couldn't have a made a mistake, right?!. He quickly looked up. His eyes met that of a little girl's. She had yellow hair, tied into two ponytails on opposite sides her head. At least, she was half Haruto’s height. Wearing just what Kentaro and Nagisa had worn that day. The army colour jacket on a white inner as well as an army colour trousers with a pink shoe to match. Her pink shoe was especially giving. He liked her sense of fashion. But… ‘What the hell was a child doing here? Even so as to wearing their uniform?’ Haruto quickly composed himself. By now, his system was already settled a little, though his heart was still pounding. That wasn't to say that he wasn't afraid, he was still in the damn darkness after all!!!. With a hoarse voice, he spoke: “I'm Gensei Haruto, I was directed here by Sato Kentaro” The cute girl hesitated for a moment before she nodded and gestured for him to come in. “Captain did inform me about you…” she paused, turning around to lock the door before turning to him. “According to him, you were supposed to come in yesterday” Haruto scratched the back of his neck and let out a sigh. “Yeah well, I encountered some challenges” he simply said. The young girl nodded slightly, “I see, take the stairs, last room on your right” said the girl and went about her own duties — not that there was any, she just sat down behind the counter in the spacious room and started to scribble on an old notebook. ‘Just like that?’ Haruto sighed and looked around. The place he was currently was built like a reception — or it was. In front of the counter behind which the young girl sat just to the right immediately you entered, there were two long sofas inclined at 90 degrees to each other and not exactly touching. Right in front of this while spacious reception was the inclined staircase he was supposed to take. It led to a wall, In front of which was another staircase that was inclined even higher. It towered just above one if one got close enough, and it was supported by a rather sturdy pillar. But, strangely there was no advanced technology in here, everything was natural. Even the source of light for the reception was four fire lamps fastened at four points across the wall, making the reception appear rather dim. With a grim sigh, Haruto reached for the stairs. ‘At least, I'm safe…for now’ *** Outside the building, silence loomed. The darkness was unmoving, until it did seem to flicker slightly. Two burning ruby eyes just a distance away slowly dimmed out of existence.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 32: Maybe You're Right.
Since Haruto was done with the system, there was only one thing left to do. The chorus of a thousand steps. Back when he had first used it, he had almost broken his entire spinal cord. The technique was a very complex one. It was for humans to practice at all. An attempt would result in brink to death situations. But, Haruto couldn't care less. He could always heal himself. Besides, not that he was the same with every other human anyways. Like the technique’s name implied, It was the chorus of each step that formed a thousand. Each step however, could only be made by a series of dances of it won't count as a step at all. That was why the technique was boundless. Each set of dances was as complex as mathematics. Remembering himself trying to solve differentiation and integration in his former life, he grimaced. ‘That was really hard for me’ In each dance set, one would have twisted limbs and crazy angles, twisted the back at specific angles. Beca
Chapter 31: HollowWraith
“What do the chitin walls look like?” Haruto, making a taciturn expression, looked ahead into the smoke and bones. The dwarf dropped his book. “It was built by the spire lord himself, it's made of countless nightmare meat and bones. Haruto shivered. ‘How ruthless’ He couldn't imagine how harrowing the walls would look. Shifting ever so lightly, he turned to look at the darkness behind them, then back at the space ahead. Then, he dusted a bit of ashen sand of his tunic, then he said: “Think we'll make it?” The dwarf looked ahead into the smoke too and shook his head in doubt. “Probably” After a moment or two, he added: “If we don't encounter an Undead Commander we might just make it.” Haruto furrowed his brows. “Undead Commander?” The dwarf shifted, as if uncomfortable in his current position. Then, he explained: “In the Hollow Spire, Undead creatures had ranks, the first one were Graveborns. They were always found outsi
Chapter 30: Quantum Malevolence
The thousand piercing punctures was a passive skill. It demanded piercing objects which would be used to pierce the victim at specific locations on the body. And guiding essence…or mana in Haruto's case through the piercing objects, one could circulate that mana through the orifices to wherever the victim was affected in the body and heal it. The only hindrance to this rule was the quality of objects used, one could not just use any. But something like a relic, one injected with essence or any other supernatural element. Which in Haruto's case, was mana. Normally, people who mastered this skill, according to Haruto's guess, would have to carry something like needles around every time. But, wouldn't it be stressful to carry needles around all the time? That was what Haruto thought. More so, the thought of being stabbed by the needles in the pocket wasn't a pleasant one. So, one had to improvise. ‘Not that I even have pockets now’ Unlike other sentinels, he had t
Chapter 29: A Mad God's Painting
Now that Haruto was severely wounded, walking that was so hard already, in the unending darkness of the harrowing shore suddenly felt much harder. The dwarf would've helped but the damn creature was just too short. Besides, crouching was the last thing he wanted to do right now. For fear of breaking his already aching back. After all, this body was weak and couldn't withstand so much as he had done in one night. He could've stopped to rest. But that only meant death for the both of them. It was a huge gamble, but they just kept going north in hopes of getting so far away from the reaches of the black sea before the songs began. Gods! They could've been going sideways. But, trying was better than sitting down and doing nothing. Turns out their gamble was right. The dwarf smiled excitedly: “Look! Light” Sure enough, as they moved, the darkness started to dissipate, and dissipate, and dissipate. Until it was no more. Then there was light. A l
Chapter 28: A Short Battle With The Night
Even wild beasts needed rest after running for hours. They were soon surrounded by pitch black, eerie darkness again. Haruto could see just fine, but the dwarf had lost his ability to see again. Both of them stood panting heavily with dry raspy gasps. They were out of breath, their stamina reserves had run dry. Of course that was to be expected, since they'd run for…who actually knew how long? Haruto's guess was 20 minutes. But… ‘Curses’ Stopping. They couldn't stop, they just couldn't. The sea would sing soon. Even at this distance, after seeing the sea himself, he felt like he was never going to get out of its reach. ‘Damn it!’ Swallowing hard, Haruto looked at the dwarf and said lowly: “We can't stop” The dwarf nodded. They wanted to continue running, as they'd before they stopped. But something halted them. The shadows suddenly moved. Jagged spikes, miry obsidian filled empty sockets in place of eyeballs, and four long limbs that ended with
Chapter 27: A Crazy Plan Begets A Befitting Reward
They were silent, and shivering, consumed by fear. Both Haruto and the dwarf. Staring back at the deep black night, immensely tenebrous, miry of deep obsidian. It eclipsed their vision, the dwarf the most. All they could do was stare back at the unwavering gaze of the night. The dwarf was holding a piece of properly tied grass in his hands, with all the might he had left in his joints. Turning his head ever so lightly and robotically, not daring to shift his gaze from the night. Haruto wanted to ask, but he thought better of it and stared back ahead. “Rowan Twig” The dwarf whispered. Haruto twisted his head again, and said, almost silently. “What?” “The women from our village, fetish as they are, say it invokes the spirit of the Rowan god. Chases away evil spirits. They swore to it.” Said the dwarf with a shaky voice. Haruto turned sharply, receiving a corresponding jolt of pain from his hind leg as a result. He groaned in pain. “Shh, keep it l
You may also like
